Tracey Reeve and her partner Jan Kolodziejczyk, of Rushden, were given a surprise holiday to Cyprus by their family to mark her 30th birthday on Sunday.

The couple had a great time with Tracey's daughter Asher, 13, and Jan's parents, Hannah and Stan. But the holiday turned into a nightmare on Friday when they tried to catch their plane home.

Tracey said: "We saw our pilot taking a phone call on the Friday morning and we guess he must have been being told he had lost his job.

"The next thing we knew he had walked out of the building and was gone."

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For travel advice click hereThe family spent the next 17 hours at the airport before a holiday operator arranged for them to stay in a hotel for two nights.

They were collected at 5pm on Sunday in time for their new flight home, which was due to be at 7.15am, but further delays meant the family did not board their plane until 8.05am on Monday.

Tracey said: "When we got to the airport on Sunday we were rushed through the check-in because we were told our flight was leaving immediately but I think that just happened because they didn't want us to talk to the press outside.

"Then we kept being told our plane had been delayed and because we had checked in they would not allow us to leave the airport again. We didn't get any sleep in all the time we were there."

The added delay meant Tracey spent her birthday at the airport and it also caused concern because Hannah has thyroid problems and had run out of tablets.

Tracey said: "The experience has made me never want to go away again."
The family arrived home on Tuesday morning and Hannah has recovered.

Jan, 40, videoed parts of the family's ordeal.

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